


Burning Firewalls

by van_daalen



Series: Firewalls [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Pre-Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2016-11-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 20:03:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8503537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/van_daalen/pseuds/van_daalen
Summary: When Talon asked her to dig up information on Overwatch members and affiliates, Sombra figured she'd use the chance to further her own goals. What she didn't anticipate was the possibility of defending one of her targets from people a lot like herself.





	

Get information on Overwatch members and affiliates.

That was her mission. _That_ was all they had told her- just a single, simple, broad order. Apparently they expected her to be able to fill in the blanks. Or, perhaps, they didn’t know what they were even looking for. Considering the mess the world was in, it seemed likely. Who knew what might be lingering in the darkness? Who could guess what seemingly insignificant detail could bring down an empire? She sure as hell didn’t know… but she had played the game long enough to know quality dirt when she saw it. So _of course_ she was up to the task they had given her. Even if she didn’t _really_ plan on giving Talon everything she found. Just a few bread crumbs would be enough to satisfy them, to keep them off her back, and give her more room to find the things she was looking for. By the time they realized she was playing them… well, by then the game would be completely over.

“ _Ellos nunca me verán venir,_ ” she murmured, a smirk forming on her lips. It was all too easy for her, really. Few things had ever given her much challenge, even before her upgrades, and now with them she was nigh unstoppable. As long as she stayed within her realm of expertise, at least. Sombra would leave the charging headfirst into battle to others- she’d handle things in the shadows, where most were too foolish (or too scared) to look. “Now… where to begin?”

The young woman swept a gloved hand through the air, silently activating a dozen screens at once. Suddenly the otherwise dark room was awash with glow, soft lights in softer colors brightening, filling the space with pastel shades. Dark blue eyes scanned the various feeds quickly, skimming for any urgent updates. _Por supuesto, nada_ , she thought, lips drawn into a frown. With a quick _tsk tsk_ she waved her hand through the air once more. Several holoscreens shifted, flipping through different sites and video feeds until they stopped on the ones she wanted. _Aquí vamos,_ she thought, gaze locking on her contact list. There was always someone willing to trade dirt for dirt, information for information, and always someone willing to betray a ‘friend’. All she had to do was see just _who_ was willing to sellout the Overwatch sellouts.

A few messages were sent out- each subtle in its own way, each equally hard to trace back to her- and old sources were pulled up. Just like any good information broker, Sombra was well-versed in the art of reusing tidbits. As long as a piece of dirt hadn’t spread too far, or gone too viral, she could release it to multiple people without issue. _Don’t worry,_ she’d tell them, _no one else knows. You’ll be safe to do with it what you will._ People were _far_ too willing to trust someone who made a living by stealing (and selling) secrets. All she had to do was bat her eyelashes, give an innocent smile, and discreetly make a few threats and ta-da! Suddenly they took her word for it. Making deals was always too easy. For Sombra, getting her hands on good data was just as easy. It was knowing what information to use when that could _actually_ get the results she wanted that could, at times, be difficult. Some things were less about skill and more about intuition. Luckily for her, she had plenty of both.

By the end of the hour she had a dozen names, several new camera feeds to keep an eye on, and a good idea of where to _really_ start digging. Pleased with herself, Sombra let herself have a nice mug of kool aid (heated up, of course) as a reward. The fact that she mixed in an energy drink to help keep herself awake did, however, dull the experience somewhat. _Todo en el nombre de progreso , _  she thought, _or at least an all-nighter._ Satisfied for the time-being, she set her mug down and got back to work, running a quick search through her database. Most of the names she had been given belonged to people she had already run into in the past. Some of them were, unfortunately for her, ‘off-limits’. There were always people willing to pay to protect someone else, after all… and people more than willing to pay to keep themselves safe. So as much as she would have loved to tell Talon all about a certain Russian’s _icy_ booty-calls, including when and where they tended to happen, she’d have to _let it go_.

“Ha! Gotta use that one again sometime,” she laughed, proud of her little joke. She let herself giggle a little more before getting back to work. With a wave of her hand she moved further down the list, seeing who would make the best target, all the while coming up with possible ways to mess with them. Another twist of her hand brought up a secondary keyboard. Without looking away from the main screen she typed furiously into it, initiating a cross-search program. Soon the side screens were shifting and glowing, specific files being highlighted and brought forward, sorted by which Overwatch member they mentioned, along with how relevant said member was to the info. For a moment she let her computers do their jobs, letting her gaze drift lazily over the process. Sombra leaned back in her chair, crossing her ankles, and let her hands rest easily in her lap.

Realistically she could relax for another half an hour before her direct interaction would be necessary again. But the stillness bugged her, tugged at the base of her skull, and sent soft electricity through her fingers. She _had_ to move. Had to keep working, keep pouring through the data feeds. It wasn’t needed. Wasn’t because she had demons to chase away, memories to escape, or realities of morality to brush off. Like so many times before now, she dove back into the holoscape in order to defeat her greatest foe: _Boredom_. Once upon a time Sombra had done this sort of thing in order to get a rush- a thrill. But in the current moment, the adrenaline that could come from hacking was absent, replaced by a twinge of emptiness. As with so many things, her favorite hobby could, at times, act as a drug.

This was not a high. This was _withdrawl._

Biting down on her lower lip, the woman sat back up, hands snapping into their places at her keyboard. Both eyes narrowed, focused, as she looked over the information in front of her. Even if the program had finished its search, she could start looking through what it had already gathered. There was plenty for her to examine. Her blue eyes flashed back and forth between folders, accompanied by quick movements of her fingers, watching them shift into alphabetical order, sorted by first name. _Aleksandra Zaryanova… off limits, of course, for a dear amiga._ There wasn’t much damage she could do to the Russian as it was, considering how ‘honorable’ she was. Most of the ‘dirt’ on her involved _very_ personal things regarding relationships and… ‘health’. Such things were not things Sombra toyed with lightly- or often, considering her flimsy, but technically present, moral code. Next came Ana Amari… _Hmm, even more ‘sightings’ of her. Funny how dead people don’t stay dead around here._ Quietly the hacker turned to the side, making herself a quick note to keep her eye out for more ghosts in the machine. _Then we have_ _Angela Ziegler... still walking around her apartment in a bathrobe, I see,_ she thought, chuckling softly as the images flipped around her screen. This process continued for a few more minutes as she looked for anything _interesting_.

There was very little on them that would be worth anything to Talon. Or at least there was very little that she already knew about them. Most of the Overwatch members had fallen out of importance in past years, resulting in them leaving a very, _very_ small trail through cyberspace. Anything worth mentioning was more than likely too recent to be in her archives. _Perfecto, simplemente maldita sea maravilloso,_ she mentally growled, having hoped to be able to give her employers a few bread crumbs before the day was over. At this rate she’d have to do a lot more digging before her investigations bore any fruit. _Maybe it’ll at least be a little fun,_ Sombra hoped, tapping a few long nails against her desk. She stared at her holoscreens for a few more seconds before pushing her chair back and standing up. There wasn’t much time left in the day, but she felt the need to take a minute to just _think_.

Unbeknownst to her, a most _interesting_ lead would be waiting for her upon her return.

* * *

 

When in doubt, it was always a good idea to see what others in one’s ‘community’ were up to. Knowing this, Sombra pulled up a few different forums, setting her computer to search for topics with ‘Overwatch’ in the title or tags. Most of the initial results were obvious fakes, pure speculation, or outdated information. That wasn’t surprising in the least- old databases were far easier to break into than those still actively protected. Something further down the line caught her eye, however, and she opened it up on a secondary screen. _Hmm… a certain ‘Diva’ is hosting a stream? What could be so interesting about that?_ Closer inspection revealed that a small group was planning on raiding the celebrity’s files while she was preoccupied. Normally Sombra wouldn’t pay much mind to something as trivial as that, but the word ‘ _oportunidad’_ was written all over it. The target of the attack had spent plenty of time in recent days mingling with former members of Overwatch, and any dirt on her could potentially be used as a gateway to bigger and better things.

Giving one of her signature smirks, Sombra drug her fingers across the screen, enlarging it and pulling it towards the center of her workspace. Her search programs were put off to the side, running silently in the background. Only soft flashing lights would remind her of their presence. A renewed sense of purpose filled her as she read through more of the thread, searching for more details on when the attack would take place, along with what exactly the culprits would be looking for. Part of her attention was temporarily placed elsewhere in order to bring up the target’s livestream. _Ah, the joys of having a computer plugged into your brain,_ she thought with a chuckle, sparing only a single glance for the video that popped up. By default the sound was off- seeing as Sombra usually only played audio when necessary, having her own music playing inside her head whenever the silence got too deep. Unlike most of those watching the young Song, she paid her no attention, the stream being just another light reflected in her eyes.

“ _¿Qué estás planeando?_ ” She asked, squinting at the screen and leaning forward instead of simply zooming in further. ‘Twas just one of many bad habits of hers. Despite her mild vision difficulty, she was still able to garner what she needed. Officially the group planned on starting the digital assault in approximately fifteen minutes. However, it seemed like the self-appointed leader was dealing with some issues on their end, and was calling for an extra ten minutes to prepare. That wasn’t terribly troubling. What ended up bothering Sombra was what they were talking about looking for: Nudes, health records, details about Song’s love life, and anything along those lines. “ _¿Que demonios?!? ¡Esos bastardos!_ ” She snapped, eyebrows furrowing tightly. One of her hands clenched into a fist out of instinct, making her nails curl inwards, almost threatening to tear into her palm. There was a sudden shake to her arms, and her eyes contained a fury unlike almost anything she had felt before.

Maybe her ‘job’ was built around stealing private information from other people. _Maybe_ she did it with a crooked grin and a fire in her eyes. But there was a _limit_ to things- rules that she followed, a standard that she held herself to, no matter the circumstances. Taking secrets from someone, blackmailing them, bribing them, all of these things are things that Sombra could do without a second thought. Without even a _twitch_ of her conscious. But looking for lude photographs, especially with the intention of releasing them to all of the internet? Oh, _no._ That was something that she would _never_ feel comfortable with. It was something that angered her greatly, and not just because she had been in Song’s position in the past. The fact that she _had_ , however, greatly added to her rage. What the _idiotas_ had planned made her blood feel like it was boiling. Even though she had been willing to assist them just five minutes earlier, she was now unwilling to accept anything less than their utter humiliation.

“ _Prepárate para quemar, putas_!” Sombra growled, cracking her knuckles as she did. It was time to get down to business.

* * *

 

They never saw her coming. Never realized that someone was blocking their path every step of the way, adding extra security to their target, undermining their every move, deepening every footprint they left. Some of them were half decent- good enough that, if they hadn’t been facing her, they might have accomplished their task. But they had invoked her righteous fury. _Nothing_ would stop her from crushing their pitiful attempts into dust. She was tempted to call it karma. They had tried to do something bad, and so the universe sent her to unleash hell upon them. But if karma was real, as she refused to believe, than she had hell to pay herself, a lifetime of misdeeds waiting to come back for her. And so the thought was abandoned as quickly as the attempted raid on Hana Song’s database was. Maybe she’d come back to it later, or maybe she’d be too occupied with chasing down the perpetrators.

Did they think that their actions would have no consequences? Did they really think that they could escape?... _Fucking bastardos,_ she thought, grinding her teeth back and forth. Even after thwarting the attack she was angry, genuinely upset at the people who had tried to hack her ‘enemy’. Stopping them didn’t feel like enough. She wanted to _ruin_ them. All it would take would be a few waves of her hand, a few messages sent, a few favors called in. Within an hour she could have them shamed all over the holonet; their crimes able to be seen by anyone, anywhere. There’d be some difficulty in trying to keep Song from catching on, however, and that gave her a moment of pause. Was she alright with her target knowing that someone had protected her? That someone could toy with her data whenever they wanted?... _Any smart person already knows there’s a risk for that,_ Sombra thought, right hand hovering over her keyboard.

Her shoulders were tense, locked in a rigid position, and her gaze remained locked on her contact list. To some it would seem such a simple decision… but she was well versed in the severity of small actions, of the ripples they caused. In the end, it was that that made the decision for her. Those who had tried to hack ‘D.Va’ would be sacrificed, the presence of outside assistance would be revealed, and she would find her way into the gamer’s home, so to speak. Although the method had changed drastically, the end goal had remained mostly intact, and she would get everything she had desired.

“ _Un regalo, mi amiga_ ,” Sombra murmured, waving a gloved hand across several screens, sending out the call for a witch hunt. Another few movements would send several urls to Song, each hinting at the day’s events, each laying the foundation for what could end up being a beautiful friendship.

**Author's Note:**

> Spanish Translations*:  
> Ellos nunca me verán venir= They never see me coming.  
> Por supuesto, nada= Of course, nothing.  
> Aquí vamos= Here we go  
> Todo en el nombre de progreso= All in the name of progress.  
> Amiga= Friend  
> Perfecto, simplemente maldita sea maravilloso= Perfect, just damn wonderful.  
> Oportunidad= Opportunity  
> ¿Qué estás planeando?= What are you planning?  
> ¿Que demonios?= What the hell?  
> ¡Esos bastardos!= Those bastards!  
> Idiotas= Idiots  
> Prepárate para quemar, putas= Get ready to burn, bitches.  
> Un regalo mi amiga= A gift, my friend.
> 
> *Translations were provided by Google Translate and double-checked by a friend of mine. If you notice an error, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.


End file.
